Shoe

ABSTRACT

A shoe includes a shoe sole and an upper coupled to the shoe sole. The upper has an upper body and an annular holding portion. The upper body has an opening portion for entry and removal of a wearer&#39;s foot. The annular holding portion is stretchable and configured to hold the wearer&#39;s foot. The annular holding portion is coupled to the opening portion. The opening portion has an edge that includes a first edge portion and a second edge portion. The first edge portion is located on a rear end in a longitudinal direction. The second edge portion is located forward of the first edge portion. The holding portion has a first degree of mobility relative to the first edge portion and a second degree of mobility relative to the second edge portion. The second degree of mobility is higher than the first degree of mobility.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No.2021-118287, filed on Jul. 16, 2021, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present invention relates to a shoe.

Background Information

There have been conventionally provided a variety of shoes. For example,Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 2015-535443 discloses afootwear product that includes a sole structure disposed below the footof a wearer, and a knitted upper disposed on the sole structure.Accordingly, the upper has a two layer structure.

The upper includes a cover component that is secured to the solestructure, and a knitted component that is disposed inside the covercomponent and secured thereto.

The knitted component includes a void forming portion, an inside ofwhich forms a void for entry of the foot of the wearer, and an annularcollar integrally formed with the void forming portion to cover theentire circumference of the ankle of the wearer.

When the footwear product having the above configuration is worn, thesole structure is brought into a state where it is pulled toward thefoot of the wearer by the contraction force of the collar. Thereby, thefootwear product has improved fitness.

The collar of the knitted component of the footwear product connectswith the void forming portion along the entire circumference. Therefore,even by pulling the collar of the knitted component outward, it hardlyexpands. This sometimes made the wearer feel difficult to insert thefoot through the collar, and remove and wear the footwear product.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, it is an object of the present disclosure toprovide a shoe that can provide both high fittability and easiness forwearing and removing.

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed shoe inorder to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of thedisclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview. It is intended toneither identify key or critical elements nor delineate the claimedscope. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the disclosure ina simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a shoe is providedthat basically comprising: a shoe sole; and an upper disposed on theshoe sole. The upper has an upper body and an annular holding portion.The upper body has an opening portion for entry and removal of the footof a wearer. The annular holding portion has stretchability configuredto hold the foot of the wearer. The holding portion is coupled to theopening portion. The opening portion has an edge that includes a firstedge portion and a second edge portion. The first edge portion islocated on a rear end side in a longitudinal direction. The second edgeportion is located forward of the first edge portion. The holdingportion has a first degree of mobility relative to the first edgeportion and a second degree of mobility relative to the second edgeportion. The second degree of mobility is a higher degree of mobilitythan the first degree of mobility.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that theholding portion is coupled to the first edge portion, and is not coupledto at least a part of the second edge portion.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that theholding portion is configured to cover a region from a front side of theanklebone to a front side of a shinbone and a peroneal bone of the footof the wearer.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that theholding portion has an upper end located above positions respectivelycovering a medial ankle and a lateral ankle of the wearer, or above anupper end of the medial ankle and an upper end of the lateral ankle.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that the upperbody has a forefoot covering portion, a pair of midfoot coveringportions and a tongue portion. The forefoot covering portion isconfigured to cover a toe side of the foot of the wearer. The midfootcovering portions extend rearward from the forefoot covering portion,and are respectively disposed on one side and an other side in a widthdirection. The tongue portion is disposed between the midfoot coveringportions. The holding portion is formed integrally with the first edgeportion.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that theholding portions formed separately from the upper body, and the holdingportion is coupled to the first edge portion.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that theholding portion is coupled to the tongue portion.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that thetongue portion is coupled to the forefoot covering portion.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that thetongue portion is coupled to the midfoot covering portions.

The shoe of the present disclosure can be configured such that themidfoot covering portions are configured to be respectively disposed ona medial side and a lateral side, and the tongue portion is coupled toany one of the midfoot covering portion on the medial side and themidfoot covering portion on the lateral side.

Also, other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the disclosedshoe will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexeddrawings, discloses preferred embodiments of the shoe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings, which form a part of thisoriginal disclosure, an illustrative embodiment is shown

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a shoe according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment as seen from the medial ankle side.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment as seen from the lateral ankle side.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the shoe according to the one embodiment ina state where midfoot covering portions are developed.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment as seen from the medial ankle side with a portion of theupper broken away.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment as seen from the lateral ankle side with a portion of theupper broken away.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment shown in a worn state as seen from the medial ankle side.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the shoe according to the oneembodiment shown in a worn state as seen from the lateral ankle side.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Selected embodiments will now be explained with reference to thedrawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the bicycle andfootwear fields from this disclosure that the following descriptions ofthe embodiments are provided for illustration only and not for thepurpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 , a shoe 1 is illustrated inaccordance with one illustrated embodiment. The shoe 1 basicallyincludes a shoe sole 2, an upper 3 and a fastener 4. The shoe sole 2 isconfigured to support the foot of a wearer (see FIG. 2 ). The upper 3 isdisposed on the shoe sole 2. The fastener 4 is configured for fasteningthe foot of the wearer onto the shoe sole 2 through the upper 3, asshown in FIG. 1 .

The description will be herein given with a longitudinal direction ofthe shoe 1 referred to as a longitudinal direction, a width direction ofthe shoe 1 referred to as a width direction, a height direction of theshoe 1 referred to as a height direction, a medial side in the widthdirection referred to as a medial ankle side_(medial side), and alateral side in the width direction referred to as a lateral ankle side(lateral side).

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the shoe sole 2 has a forefoot soleportion 20 located on a front end side in the longitudinal direction, amidfoot sole portion 21 located rearward of the forefoot sole portion20, and a rear sole portion 22 located on a rear end side in thelongitudinal direction. The forefoot sole portion 20 forms the front endside of the shoe sole 2. The rear sole portion 22 forms the rear endside of the shoe sole 2.

The forefoot sole portion 20 is a region on which the toe of the weareris placed. The rear sole portion 22 is a region on which the heel of thewearer is placed. The midfoot sole portion 21 is a region on which thecentral portion of the foot of the wearer (i.e., the central portion inthe longitudinal direction) is placed.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the upper 3 has an upper body 30 forming an openingportion O for entry and removal of the foot of the wearer, and anannular holding portion 31 having stretchability that is configured tohold the foot of the wearer. In other words, the annular holding portion31 is a stretchable material or stretchable fabric which has the abilityto stretch and elastically return to an original unstretched state. Forexample, the stretchable material of the annular holding portion 31 canbe partially made of elastic fibers, such as Lycra, Spandex or elastane,and/or can be a knit fabric which stretches due to a series ofinterlocking loops formed in the production of the annular holdingportion 31. The annular holding portion 31 is coupled to the openingportion O.

An edge of the opening portion O of the upper body 30 includes a firstedge portion 300 located on the rear end side, and a pair of second edgeportions 301 located forward of the first edge portion 300. The secondedge portions 301 are continuous with the first edge portion 300. One ofthe second edge portions 301 is a portion disposed on the medial ankleside. The other of the second edge portions 301 is a portion disposed onthe lateral ankle side.

A boundary between the first edge portion 300 and each of the secondedge portions 301 can be set at a position corresponding to a center ofthe opening portion O in the longitudinal direction (i.e., a positionaligning with the center of the opening portion O in the widthdirection), for example.

The upper body 30 of this embodiment includes a forefoot coveringportion 302 located on the front end side in the longitudinal direction,a pair of midfoot covering portions 303 located rearward of the forefootcovering portion 302 in the longitudinal direction while being adjacentto each other and respectively disposed at positions away from eachother in the width direction, a rearfoot covering portion 304 locatedrearward of the midfoot covering portions 303 in the longitudinaldirection while being adjacent to each other (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 ),and a tongue portion 305 disposed on the inner side of the midfootcovering portions 303 while being overlapped with the midfoot coveringportions 303.

The forefoot covering portion 302, the midfoot covering portions 303,and the rearfoot covering portion 304 are integrally formed. Theforefoot covering portion 302 is a portion configured to cover the toeside of the foot of the wearer. One of the midfoot covering portions 303is a portion configured to cover the medial ankle side of the foot ofthe wearer. The other of the midfoot covering portions 303 is a portionconfigured to cover the lateral ankle side of the foot of the wearer.The rearfoot covering portion 304 is a portion configured to coveraround the heel of the wearer.

As described above, the midfoot covering portions 303 align with eachother with a distance therebetween in the width direction. In thisembodiment, a region between the midfoot covering portions 303 will bereferred to as a fastening margin region. The fastening margin regionand the opening portion O are formed to be continuous with each other.

The holding portion 31 is configured to have a higher degree of mobilityrelative to the second edge portions 301 than a degree of mobility ofthe holding portion 31 relative to the first edge portion 300. In otherwords, the holding portion 31 has a first degree of mobility relative tothe first edge portion 300, and a second degree of mobility relative tothe second edge portions 301, where the second degree of mobility ishigher than the first degree of mobility According to the holdingportion 31 configured in this way, the front end side of the holdingportion 31 in the longitudinal direction can more easily stretch thanthe rear end side of the holding portion 31 in the longitudinaldirection.

The first degree of mobility of the holding portion 31 relative to thefirst edge portion 300 herein means the degree of relative displacement(movement) to the first edge portion 300 of the holding portion 31 whenthe holding portion 31 is pulled in a direction away from the first edgeportion 300. The second degree of mobility of the holding portion 31relative to the second edge portions 301 herein means the degree ofrelative displacement (movement) to the second edge portions 301 of theholding portion 31 when the holding portion 31 is pulled in a directionaway from the second edge portions 301.

More specifically, the rear end side of the holding portion 31 iscoupled to the first edge portion 300. The front end side of the holdingportion 31 is not coupled to the second edge portions 301 (see FIG. 4 ,FIG. 5 , and FIG. 6 ). Coupling between the holding portion 31 and thefirst edge portion 300 can be made by sewing, bonding, welding or anyother means.

Therefore, the rear end side of the holding portion 31 is kept close tothe first edge portion 300 when it is pulled by the wearer. However, thefront end side of the holding portion 31 is not kept close to the secondedge portions 301 when it is pulled by the wearer. Thereby, the frontend side more easily stretches than the rear end side.

The fastener 4 is a wire, a string of the shoe 1, a hook and loopfaster, or the like. The fastener 4 can fasten the midfoot coveringportions 303 to each other, and loosen the fastened pair of midfootcovering portions 303.

The description for the configuration of the shoe 1 of this embodimentwill be hereinafter made and the description on how to wear and removethe shoe 1 will follow.

In wearing the shoe 1, the wearer stretches the holding portion 31radially outward. For example, the wearer grabs and pulls the one sideand the other side in the width direction of the holding portion 31 awayfrom each other. As such, the holding portion 31 is stretched to such asize to enable the wearer to easily insert the foot therethrough. Thewearer inserts the foot through the holding portion 31 into the insideof the upper body 30.

As described above, since the front end side of the holding portion 31is not coupled to the second edge portions 301, the front end side ofthe holding portion 31 easily stretches compared with the rear end side.Therefore, the wearer can easily insert the foot through the holdingportion 31.

When the upper end of the holding portion 31 is not located at positionsrespectively corresponding to a medial malleolus A1 and a lateralmalleolus A2 of an ankle N of the wearer, or not located on the upperside of the medial malleolus A1 and the lateral malleolus A2, theholding portion 31 is pulled upward. Then, the upper end of the holdingportion 31 is located at positions respectively overlapping with themedial malleolus A1 and the medial malleolus A1, or located on the upperside of the medial malleolus A1 and the lateral malleolus A2 (see FIG. 7and FIG. 8 ). In FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 , the foot is allocated with areference code F, and the ankle is allocated with a reference code N.

The wearer operates the fastener 4 to fasten the f midfoot coveringportions 303 to allow the foot of the wearer to be restricted within theupper body 30.

When the wearer removes the shoe 1, the wearer operates the fastener 4to loosen the fastening force of the fastener 4 applied to the foot. Thewearer then pulls the foot out of the upper body 30 and the holdingportion 31. When the wearer pulls the foot out of the holding portion31, the front end side of the holding portion 31 easily stretchescompared with the rear end side. Therefore, the wearer can easily movethe foot through the holding portion 31.

In the case where the wearer wears the shoe 1, the front end side of theholding portion 31 is in the state where it more stretches than the rearend side of the holding portion 31. Therefore, the rear end side of theholding portion 31 is held in a state where it is pulled toward thefront end side of the holding portion 31. Thereby, the rearfoot coveringportion 304 of the upper body 30 and the rear sole portion 22 of theshoe sole 2 are also held in a state where they are pulled toward thefront end side of the holding portion 31.

The holding portion 31 is inclined so as to have the front end locatedabove the rear end. Therefore, the rear end side of the holding portion31, the rearfoot covering portion 304 of the upper body 30, and the rearsole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 are held in a state where they arepulled forward and upward by the front end side of the holding portion31.

For example, when the wearer takes a step on the ground during walking,the toe of the wearer steps on the shoe sole 2, while the heel of thewearer tends to move away from the shoe sole 2. However, as describedabove, since the rear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 is in the statewhere it is pulled forward and upward by the front end side of theholding portion 31, the heel of the foot of the wearer is prevented frombeing easily separated from the rear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2.That is, the rear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 comes into thestate where it can easily follow the motion of the heel of the foot ofthe wearer.

As described above, according to the shoe 1 of this embodiment, thesecond degree of mobility of the holding portion 31 relative to thesecond edge portions 301 is set to be higher than the first degree ofmobility of the same relative to the first edge portion 300 so that thefront end side out of the entire holding portion 31 can easily stretch.Therefore, in the shoe 1, the wearer can insert the foot through theholding portion 31 while sufficiently stretching the holding portion 31so that the wearer can easily wear and remove the shoe 1. In particular,for a high-cut shoe such as the shoe 1 of this embodiment, easiness forwearing and removing of the shoe can be significantly improved.

Since the rear end side of the holding portion 31 has a low degree ofmobility relative to the first edge portion 300, the first edge portion300 along with the rear end side of the holding portion 31 are pulledforward by the front end side of the stretched holding portion 31 in thestate where the shoe 1 is worn by the wearer. Thereby, the rear soleportion 22 of the shoe sole 2 is pulled toward the foot of the wearer.Thus, the rear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 is hardly separatedaway from the foot of the wearer to thereby improve the fitness.

Thus, according to the shoe 1 of this embodiment, a difference is causedbetween the degree of mobility of the front end side and the rear endside, of the holding portion 31, to thereby realize both improvedfitness and easiness for wearing and removing.

Further, since the holding portion 31 is configured not to be coupled toat least a part of the second edge portions 301, the second degree ofmobility of the holding portion 31 relative to the second edge portions301 is likely to increase compared with the first degree of mobility ofthe holding portion 31 relative to the first edge portion 300. Thereby,easiness for wearing and removing is likely to improve.

Further, as long as the holding portion 31 covers a region from thefront side of the anklebone to the front side of the shinbone and theperoneal bone, of the ankle of the wearer, as in the shoe 1 of thisembodiment, the rear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 is likely to bepulled toward the heel of the foot of the wearer by the tensile forcedue to the contraction of the holding portion 31. Thus, the fitness islikely to be further improved.

In particular, according to the configuration that the holding portion31 has an upper end located above positions covering the medial ankleand the lateral ankle of the wearer, or above an upper end of the medialankle and an upper end of the lateral ankle, the upper end of theholding portion 31 can be easily pulled upward to higher positions sothat the holding portion 31 can easily increase its force of pulling therear sole portion 22 of the shoe sole 2 toward the heel of the foot ofthe wearer.

Further, in the case where the holding portion 31 is configured so thatthe tensile force can be transmitted not only to the rearfoot coveringportion 304 of the upper body 30 and the rear sole portion 22 of theshoe sole 2, but also to any other regions of the upper body 30, thefitness is likely to be further improved.

For example, in this embodiment, the front side of the holding portion31 is coupled to the tongue portion 305 and the tongue portion 305 iscoupled to the forefoot covering portion 302. With this configuration,the front side of the holding portion 31, the tongue portion 305, andthe forefoot covering portion 302 are coupled together as one unit,which enables the tensile force of the holding portion 31 to be easilytransmitted to the front end side of the shoe 1 (i.e., the forefootcovering portion 302 or a forefoot sole portion).

In wearing state, the arrangement positions become higher in the orderof the forefoot covering portion 302, the front end of the tongueportion 305, the rear end of the tongue portion 305, and the holdingportion 31. Therefore, the forefoot covering portion 302 can be easilypulled toward the foot (toe) of the wearer. Thereby, the toe of the footof the wearer and the shoe sole 2 are hardly separated away from eachother so that the fitness can be easily improved.

The shoe of the present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiment, and it is a matter of course that the shoe can be subjectedto various modifications without departing the gist of the presentinvention.

In the above embodiment, the holding portion 31 which is formedseparately from the upper body 30 is coupled to the upper body 30,without limitation thereto. The upper body 30 and the holding portion 31can be formed as an integral member.

The entire second edge portions 301 of the above embodiment are notcoupled to the holding portion 31, without limitation thereto. Forexample, a part of the second edge portions 301 can be coupled to theholding portion 31 as long as the second degree of mobility of theholding portion 31 relative to the second edge portions 301 is higherthan the first degree of mobility relative to the first edge portion300. That is, the second edge portions 301 can include a coupled portionto which the holding portion 31 is coupled and a non-coupled portion towhich the holding portion 31 is not coupled. Thus, the holding portion31 may not be coupled to at least a part of the second edge portions301.

The holding portion 31 can be coupled to the entire second edge portions301 as long as the second degree of mobility of the holding portion 31relative to the second edge portions 301 can be set to be higher thanthe first degree of mobility relative to the first edge portion 300.

In a case where the holding portion 31 is also coupled to the secondedge portions 301, the first degree of mobility of the holding portion31 relative to the first edge portion 300 can be represented as a degreeof extension and contraction of the holding portion 31 relative to thefirst edge portion 300 when the holding portion 31 is pulled in adirection away from the first edge portion 300. Also, the second degreeof mobility of the holding portion 31 relative to the second edgeportions 301 can be represented as a degree of extension and contractionof the holding portion 31 relative to the second edge portions 301 whenthe holding portion 31 is pulled in a direction away from the secondedge portions 301.

In the above embodiment, the holding portion 31 is coupled to the tongueportion 305, without limitation thereto. For example, the holdingportion 31 may not be coupled to the tongue portion 305.

In the above embodiment, the tongue portion 305 is coupled to theforefoot covering portion 302, without limitation thereto. For example,the tongue portion 305 may not be coupled to the forefoot coveringportion 302. In this case, the tongue portion 305 may be coupled to, forexample, the midfoot covering portions 303.

In the above embodiment, the tongue portion 305 is not coupled to themidfoot covering portions 303, without limitation thereto. For example,the tongue portion 305 can be coupled to the midfoot covering portions303. In this case, the tongue portion 305 may be coupled to one of themidfoot covering portions 303 respectively located on the medial ankleside and the lateral ankle side.

According to the above configuration, the tensile force due to thecontraction of the holding portion 31 can be easily transmitted not onlyto the tongue portion 305 but also to the midfoot covering portion(s)303 so that the fitness can be easily improved.

Although not referred above, the shoe 1 can be a shoe for a user of asports bicycle, or a shoe for any other applications.

The shoe of the present invention is described above by way of the aboveembodiments, but is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments. Thus,the shoe according to the present invention can be subjected to variousmodifications within the intended scope of the present invention.Further, the operation and effect of the present invention are notlimited to the above embodiments. That is, the embodiments disclosedherein should be considered to be illustrative in all respects and notrestrictive. The scope of the present invention is indicated by theappended claims, not by the above description. It is also contemplatedthat the scope of the present invention includes all modificationswithin the meaning and scope of equivalence to the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A shoe comprising: a shoe sole; and an upperdisposed on the shoe sole, the upper having: an upper body having anopening portion for entry and removal of a foot of a wearer; and anannular holding portion having stretchability configured to hold thefoot of the wearer, the holding portion being coupled to the openingportion, the opening portion having an edge that includes a first edgeportion located on a rear end side in a longitudinal direction of theshoe, and a second edge portion located forward of the first edgeportion, and the holding portion having a first degree of mobilityrelative to the first edge portion and a second degree of mobilityrelative to the second edge portion, the second degree of mobility beinga higher degree of mobility than the first degree of mobility.
 2. Theshoe according to claim 1, wherein the holding portion is coupled to thefirst edge portion, and is not coupled to at least a part of the secondedge portion.
 3. The shoe according to claim 1, wherein the holdingportion is configured to cover a region from a front side of theanklebone to a front side of a shinbone and a peroneal bone of the footof the wearer.
 4. The shoe according to claim 1, wherein the holdingportion has an upper end located above positions respectively covering amedial ankle and a lateral ankle of the wearer, or above an upper end ofthe medial ankle and an upper end of the lateral ankle.
 5. The shoeaccording to claim 1, wherein the upper body includes: a forefootcovering portion configured to cover a toe side of the foot of thewearer; a pair of midfoot covering portions extending rearward from theforefoot covering portion and respectively disposed on one side and another side in a width direction; and a tongue portion disposed betweenthe midfoot covering portions, and the holding portion is formedintegrally with the first edge portion.
 6. The shoe according to claim1, wherein the holding portion is formed separately from the upper body,and the holding portion is coupled to the first edge portion.
 7. Theshoe according to claim 5, wherein the holding portion is coupled to thetongue portion.
 8. The shoe according to claim 7, wherein the tongueportion is coupled to the forefoot covering portion.
 9. The shoeaccording to claim 5, wherein the tongue portion is coupled to themidfoot covering portions.
 10. The shoe according to claim 9, whereinthe midfoot covering portions are configured to be respectively disposedon a medial side and a lateral side, and the tongue portion is coupledto any one of the midfoot covering portion on the medial side and themidfoot covering portion on the lateral side.